Did you know that over 80% of the ocean remains unexplored by humans? It’s hard to imagine just how many undiscovered creatures reside in these areas. Heck, even the areas of the ocean we do explore are full of elusive creatures. And the bigfin squid is the perfect, weirdly fascinating example. Although this type of squid was discovered back in 1907, it’s highly rare for us humans to spot them. In fact, recorded sightings of this alien-like creature have only been documented around a dozen times. For further perspective, that’s about 12 times in 117 years! That’s why the Tonga Trench Expedition was thrilled to stumble across a bigfin squid while exploring the Southern Pacific Ocean. Check out this strange underwater animal in the video below! @oceanx This is the first sighting of the rare bigfin squid (Magnapinna) in the Tonga Trench in the Southern Pacific Ocean. Filmed at a depth of 3,300 meters using a deep-sea lander in September 2024, the squid’s iconic tentacles take up the entire view of the camera. There have only been around a dozen sightings of bigfin squid on record, so to have new footage of this creature to study is incredibly important. Because there have been so few sightings, very little is known about these alien-like squids. We do know that they can be over 8 meters long, their tentacles jut out perpendicular to their body giving them the appearance of “elbows”, and they are the only know squid to live below 6,000 meters, giving them the title of the deepest dwelling squid on Earth. The Tonga Trench Expedition that filmed this bigfin squid was lead by Professor Alan Jamieson and included researchers from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center at The University of Western Australia (@deepseauwa) , Kelpie Geoscience (@KelpieGeo) and Inkfish (@inkfishexpeditions). ♬ original sound – OceanX Elusive Bigfin Squid is Caught on Camera 3,300 Meters Under the Tonga Trench “We always hope to see this type of animal,” Alan Jamieson, a professor and deep-sea scientist at the University of Western Australia who helped lead the team, says. “[Bigfin squid] are not something you would actively go looking for, they are a species that relies on us coming across them by accident.” Because the bigfin squid is so elusive, we still don’t know a lot about it. But what we do know is fascinating. They can be over 8 meters long, and their tentacles are shaped in a way that makes it seem as though they have their own version of “elbows.” Plus, because they live below 6,000 meters, it makes them the deepest-dwelling squid. “I’ve never seen anything look so real and so fake at the same time,” someone admits in reply to this rare footage, with another asking, “Are we 100% that’s not one of those aliens?” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post First Time On Film: Researchers Capture Rare Footage Of Mysterious Bigfin Squid appeared first on InspireMore.